Last night while driving home my check engine light came on. I pulled into the nearest Autozone and checked all fluids, (which were fine) then asked an employee to do a diagnostic check. It came back as too little flow in the EGR valve. I discovered a small tear in one of the hoses plugged into this valve, cut it off and plugged it back in to no avail. The employee then told me not to buy the valve and to get a second opinion as he replaced that same valve in his car and the check engine light NEVER went off but the car still drives just fine. Will this cause damage to the engine if I don’t immediately get it repaired? I drive a 1997 Toyota Corolla. Thanks for any advice!

An EGR “low flow” condition will not hurt anything. Usually, the valve must be removed and the passages that feed it cleaned out. You can reset the CEL by disconnecting your battery for 30 seconds…Who knows? it might stay off…This is not something to lose any sleep over…

Thanks for the advice. I guess when I cut off that small length of hose that had the hole in it, it corrected the problem. I just needed to disconnect the battery for the light reset.
And to “oldschool”, I don’t rely on my “idiot” lights to warn me of low fluids. That is just where I thought I’d start troubleshooting.